The Black Press and Dallas: A Celebration of World Press Freedom Day

Consequential elections on the local, state, and national level are coming, and communities of color are being targeted with disinformation more than ever. Who do you trust for reliable information?

Join PEN Dallas/Fort Worth on Friday, May 3, at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church for a fireside chat, Q & A, and mixer with local journalists, organizers, and community leaders on navigating truth and fiction this election season. We will explore how disinformation particularly impacts Black folks in the local Dallas area, how the Black press can be a reliable local resource, and strategies for self-empowerment as a trusted messenger in your community. We hope you'll join us for this free event.

Cheryl Smith is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in the industry. She is the publisher of I Messenger News Group, which includes Texas Metro News, Garland Journal, and I Messenger. Smith also hosts Cheryl’s World on Blog Talk Radio, is the treasurer of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and is a Society of Professional Journalists board member.

Sanderia Faye is a PEN Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter Leader, serves on the faculty at Southern Methodist University, and is a professional speaker, activist, and sommelier. Her novel, Mourner’s Bench, won the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in debut fiction, The Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit for fiction, and The 2017 Arkansas Library Association Arkansiana Award. She is also the host of the LitNight Reading Series.

Faye’s work has appeared in the Southwest Review, Rain Taxi, Nat Brut, the Collagist, and other literary journals. She received “Best Of” honors at the 2011 Eckerd College Writers’ Conference, Co-Directors Dennis Lehane and Sterling Watson, where her winning story was published in the SABAL Literary Journal. She was published in the anthology Arsnick: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas, and she moderated the grassroots panel for the Arkansas Civil Rights Symposium during the Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary. She coordinated the first AWP African Diaspora Caucus and has moderated and served on several panels.

Patrick Washington is the CEO and Co-Publisher of the Dallas Weekly. After attending Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, and majoring in mass media studies with a concentration on film, he moved back home to Dallas in the fall of 2008 and began working with his father at his newspaper, The Dallas Weekly, helping create a new idea for the company.

This is where the past would meet the future, and the new DW Magazine and Media Company would be born. Patrick reached out to his many artist and media degreed friends to create a digital network of content creators to rejuvenate the newspaper and upgrade it into a multimedia brand. Since launching dallasweekly.com, Patrick has taken bold strides in rebranding and re-educating the DFW Metroplex and the world of the Dallas Weekly’s digital capabilities and their active involvement in the greater African American community.

Henry Hicks IV (he/him) is a Washington, D.C.-based writer and organizer. Prior to joining PEN America, Henry has organized with Relentless to build relational-first programs for Democratic and progressive campaigns; with the Kamala Harris For the People presidential campaign; and with Tennessee-based racial justice and voting rights nonprofit, The Equity Alliance. Additionally, Henry has spent time in the offices of former U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-05) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), as well as at AmeriCorps HQ, where he supported the mission of the Biden-Harris Administration.

Henry is a graduate of Oberlin College, is a 2020 Harry S. Truman Scholar, and was most recently a finalist for the 2023 Rhodes Scholarship. In his spare time, he works as a freelance writer and reporter. His work has appeared in In These Times, Teen Vogue, The Brooklyn Rail, Bolts, and more.

Host or Publisher PEN America